They're all dreaming of putting one over papa Tiger

"First it was getting engaged, then it was getting married and now it's having a child. It's always something," reflected Woods yesterday as he approached his second consecutive Open title defence.

Scroll down to read more:

He chose not to mention the death last year of his father Earl, although he could easily have done so in considering the sequence of life-altering events he has recently been through.

While there can hardly be more profound experiences than losing your father and becoming one yourself — he has dealt with both over a span of barely 12 months — neither has been enough to deflect him from the aim of sustaining domination in his chosen sport.

So when asked whether the arrival a month ago of daughter Sam might be some sort of threat to his golf, his answer was emphatic.

"I don't see how it can be negative," he said succinctly. In general terms, however, his response to becoming a father for the first time is endearingly human.

"Elin, my wife, and Sam are doing fantastic. They're at home and I miss them, there's no doubt," said Woods, who has been getting varied advice about parenthood from his playing peers.

"Everyone tells you their own experiences and one thing I've noticed is that, even though they're kind of weird ones, they have a smile on their face.

"You can see how people light up when they talk about their child and we're the same way. It's a fantastic feeling.

"As far as the good and the bad, the bad is probably that I get a bit less sleep. It's nice to come over here and get some rest but it's been great, I wouldn't trade it for anything."

There are those who believe that, for many top sportsmen, absolute peak performance does often get traded in with the onset of parenthood and that was temporarily the case during last month's U.S. Open.

With his wife in hospital in the last days of pregnancy, Woods managed only second place.

"It was harder than normal, I'll put it that way, to stay focused all day but you have to try and do it.

"The doctors told me there was nothing I could do so just go and win the U.S. Open but I didn't quite do that. Win or lose, in the end seeing Sam being born (the day after the U.S. Open) was the greatest thing ever."

There are all sorts of reasons why fatherhood will probably prove a limp straw to clutch at for rivals and those suffering from Tiger fatigue.

One reason is that his collection of 12 major titles still sees him six short of his target of Jack Nicklaus' total; another is that having five children was never exactly too much of an impediment for the man whose achievements he is chasing.

The best childcare money can buy is unlikely to be a problem for Woods and, in any case, he restricts himself to a schedule of about 20 tournaments a year.

He is also phenomenally well organised and you had to be up at 5.45am yesterday to see him set off on his practice round with close friends Mark O' Meara and Thomas Bjorn.

Woods even seems to have organised the weather perfectly so far this week. His round on Monday morning was played in almost wintry conditions with the wind blowing and horizontal rain.

Yesterday it was summer again with him playing in front of a small gallery of early-bird spectators under azure skies with the course at its most benign.

He is prepared for whatever Carnoustie might throw at him and is much happier with the set-up than he was eight years ago.

"It's extremely fair, not like in 1999," he said. "If we have wind like yesterday morning or any other kind of wind it becomes a lot more difficult than you think. The greens are extremely subtle. Like all links courses they are hard to read."

This week he attempts to become the first player to win three straight Opens since Peter Thomson in the Fifties and only the second since the 19th century.

"I feel good about my preparation," he said. "I like the way I'm swinging, I like the way my short game is, my speed on the greens. I've just got to carry that into the tournament."